Update 10/13/2009: If you have found this old post then you are a motivated searcher. I am now developing a searchable database of Google’s current categories. If you think that easy access to Google’s category information would be helpful to you, contact me at mike@blumenthals.com and let me know that you are interested in testing the beta.

The categories that Google uses in Maps have always been confusing. They have their own very limited list and then they integrate categories from their other providers in a non-transparent way that causes confusion.

Previously Reuben wrote: The other thing I noticed is that the category for that site is Gazebo Builder which is taken from Acxiomâ€™s database, but that category is not present within GLBC. FYI Acxiom is the database behind yellowpages etc.

It would be of interest to gain a complete list of these categories and attempt to map them to Google’s.

Please consider leaving a comment as your input will help me (& everyone else) better understand and learn about local.

4 thoughts on “List of Google Maps categories”

Mike, there are actually 12 top level categories and 512 sub-categories. Although they don’t ask for it with new data files, these are still supported for bulk publishers. For reference, this GLBC Legacy category list also shows the category-ids.

I have just found this when looking for a list of the google local listing business categories. As far as I can tell we are able to type a category and if it exists then it will suggest it to you but there is no way to identify an explicit list of what exists and is popular.

Ill drop you an email on that beta test shortly from my home account, I sent one from work earlier but am interested on a personal and professional level

Google maps change my business category automatically to Alternative Medical Practitioner if I type in Complementary Health Professional. The is a huge difference between the two.
“Alternative” means “in stead of” and “Complementary” means “in addition to”. Can Alternative Health Professional be added to the list?